It's in "Israel's interest"? Yeah, if it wanted to be destroyed.
Posted on 12/12/2003 1:04:57 PM PST by yonif
WASHINGTON (AP)--President Bush warned Israel anew on Friday not to take actions that would make it harder to create a Palestinian state.
``It's in Israel's interest there be a Palestinian state,'' Bush told reporters at the White House. ``It's in the poor suffering Palestinian people's interest there be a Palestinian state.''
Also Friday, Israel Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said after a meeting with Secretary of State Colin Powell that he and Powell agree that negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians should begin immediately without preconditions.
Shalom added that he hoped Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia could meet soon. He said Sharon will outline his thoughts on future steps in the peace process next week.
In a slap to Qureia, Bush also urged the Palestinian side to embrace new leadership, ``willing to reject the tired old policies of the past.'' As he often has, Bush lamented that Qureia's predecessor, Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas, had been ``shoved aside'' in September.
``That's why we're stalled where we are today,'' the president said. ``It's time for Palestinian leadership to emerge that believes in peace and believes in the aspirations of the Palestinian people.''
But Bush had pointed words for Israel amid signs that the administration is growing frustrated with Israel's actions.
``Israel must be mindful ... that they don't make decisions that make it hard to create a Palestinian state,'' he said.
Shalom met with Powell a day after U.S. diplomat David Satterfield accused Israel of doing ``too little for far too long to translate its repeatedly stated commitment to facilitate Palestinian reform into reality.''
Satterfield made the comment at a meeting in Rome of European countries that provide assistance to Palestinians.
Shalom did not respond directly to the criticism but said he was in Rome on Wednesday ``to convince the donor countries not to give up, to continue with their contributions in order to ease the lot of the Palestinians.''
Powell also gave fresh encouragement Thursday to private peace efforts in the Middle East, meeting with a moderate Palestinian, Sari Nusseibeh, whose grass-roots movement seeks Israel's withdrawal from the West Bank and Gaza.
Bush suggested such meetings are no sign of a dilution of his administration's commitment to the ``road map,'' devised with U.S. help, that calls for the establishment of a Palestinian state by 2005, with two states living side by side in peace.
``I haven't changed my opinion,'' Bush said. ``I'm sure the secretary is meeting with all kinds of people all the time. But the policy of this administration was laid out in the Rose Garden for everybody to see, everybody to listen to.''
Shalom said revival of the road map and the peace process ``is something that is needed now.''
``If the other side, the Palestinians, are serious about it, we would like to resume the negotiations immediately,'' Shalom said.
He said he will meet on Monday with Vice President Dick Cheney, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and national security adviser Condoleezza Rice.
I am not going to even tell you what I think about this statement.
That's silly. No it isn't.
I have absolutely no problems with Israel declaring these people as citizens of Jordan.
With respect, I don't see how.
It's in "Israel's interest"? Yeah, if it wanted to be destroyed.
Answer: It is the West Bank of Jordan!
Thanks for your input.
I didn't believe
Bush said that. I checked the link.
Still hard to believe.
Perhaps the US
crime rate would drop if we gave
a separate state
to the murders
we've -- I guess -- mistakenly
put in our prisons...
If and when that happens, I am sure that both Israel and America will work closely with Jordan to respect this new country.
But something will happen when I'm president: as soon as I take office I will begin the process of moving the U.S. ambassador to the city Israel has chosen as its capital
Presidential candidate
May 23, 2000
August 28, 2000
American Jewish Committee's Election 2000 Questionnaire, October, 2000
"President Bush is committed to moving our embassy to Jerusalem. The process is ongoing. We have not started any actions yet." Colin Powell, March 2001
I'm just wondering why Bush is more concerned with the widdle feewings of the poor widdle so-called palis than with the fact that they are in the hole that they and their putative leader dug for them.
Push em back, push em back, way back!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.